Once he was remotely connected to her computer, Gore alleges to the Orange County Register that the agent proceeded to:

Activate her built-in webcam to take pictures of her without her knowledge and then display them on her screen, making her feel uncomfortable.

Set a topless photo of her (that was hidden away on her hard disk) as her wallpaper – a shock when she next switched on her laptop.

Later emailed her saying: “I saw ur NUDE pics i m really sry I couldn’t say that over the phone that is y I m saying it now. N u look very very very very cute…it boosted me up and hope to have a good, sweet, cute, adorable, friend like U : )”

Tried to add her as a friend on Facebook (she obviously declined).

Understandably, Gore went on to complain to Dell about this treatment. Gore told the Orange County Register that a Dell official claimed that the agent in question was one of their best technicians but that he would be spoken to about his inappropriate behaviour.

Gore has reported the incident to the police but doesn’t expect them to be able to do anything. Dell’s HQ is said to be looking into the incident.

Martin Bryant was Editor-at-Large at The Next Web. He left the company in April 2016 for pastures new. You can find him on Twitter, on Snapchat as Martinsfp, subscribe to him on Facebook and visit his personal site. He's based in Manchester, UK and has a thing for quirky American music and Japanese video games.